Blackpool manager Ian Holloway has suggested that England's 2018 World Cup bid
team would have been more successful if the FA had bribed Fifa members for
their votes.

The results of last week's voting, which saw Russia awarded the 2018 World Cup and Qatar the 2022 tournament, sparked widespread suggestions of corruption and has led to calls for Fifa's system to be investigated.

When the breakdown of the voting was released it revealedEngland's bid had received just two votes - one from our own bid chairman Geoff Thompson - from a possible 22 despite such widespread praise and "gentleman's handshakes".

"We spent £15m on the bid - maybe we would have been better off tucking all that in a few envelopes and seeing if that did any good," Holloway is quoted as saying in the Express. "I was worried all along for the one reason: we'd already been given the Olympics - and what an honour that is.

"I believe, and this is why I am so gutted, that we'd have done it better than all the other competitors. We could run it tomorrow. We're so multi-cultural - we've got fans from almost every country already here.

"Unfortunately though, Russia have got it and they've now got to build all the grounds; but they've probably got the money to do it."

When asked what he thought of the news that England had received so few votes despite the bid showing such promise, Holloway added: "What can you say about Fifa? I don't know who they are.

"We were supposed to have so many votes, but how were the England team allowed to meet them? Surely they should be locked in a room to make up their mind? If anything is corrupt it's the way it's done in that way."